HISTORY THE SOUTH CANNOT IGNORE (BUT TEXTBOOKS DO)
When my husband and I took a road trip through the South last July, I expected hot and sticky weather (the mercury hit 111 degrees in Baton Rouge, Los Angeles); weight gain (seven pounds); great music (Beale Street, juke joints and Preservation Jazz Hall, oh my!); and Southern hospitality (I finally understand the meaning of “bless his/her little heart”).
What I didn’t expect was that along the route I’d be continuously plugging holes in my education. In fact, over the course of three weeks, I learned more American history from the museums and historical sites we visited throughout the region than in all of my previous schooling, despite—or perhaps because of—being educated in some of the wealthier public school districts in the nation.
What follows is a travelogue of those museums and sites, highlighting some of my edification.
National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis Tennessee
The curation of this museum may be the best I’ve ever seen—and I’ve been to a lot of museums. Exhibits are ordered chronologically. Each sequential exhibit enhances the senses, and small touches—like the sounds of water, and feet walking over the Edmund Pettus
